


because maybe you’re gonna be the one that saves me

by peacock_francophile



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Bridging the gap between Ragnarok and infinity war, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Lokyrie, Non-Canon Relationship, Not Canon Compliant, Original Female Character- Serlah, Original Male Character- Barow, Probably some angst, Psychological Torture, Torture, Valki - Freeform, cause you know how much I love angst, enemies to lovers I guess, slowburn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-03-25 00:52:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13823022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peacock_francophile/pseuds/peacock_francophile
Summary: “Look, you don’t have a choice!” Loki yelled. “It’s either stay here and die, or get captured and tortured or whatever Thanos will do to us— or you can run and find help.” Loki paused and glanced at the refugees huddling by the bridge. “I’ll look after them.”“Full offense, Loki, but you’re a horrible king,” Valkyrie snorted. “I’ll look after them.”“No, I’ll look after them because I’m their king and I’m not going anywhere!” Thor boomed, but who was to look after the refugees, Valkyrie didn’t find out, because at that moment, another blast hit the ship, and the world exploded around them.After Thanos shoots down the Asgardian refuge ship and takes Valkyrie and Loki captive, the two must learn to put aside their differences and work together if there’s any hope for survival.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This will be my first longish fic that isn’t just one chapter. Yay for me and hopefully you guys as well.  
> Title from “Wonderwall” by Oasis

“What’s going on?” Valkyrie snapped as she rushed to catch up with Thor and Loki, who were racing down the hallways of the Asgardian refugee ship. She rubbed her eyes, still half asleep. “What—“

“Bad,” Loki wheezed, clutching a stitch in his side. “Very bad—“

“Alert the ship. Wake up the Asgardians,” Thor commanded. “We have a slight problem.”

“Slight?” Loki hissed, his eyes flashing. “Slight problem? Brother, you may have never met Thanos, but he is no slight problem.”

“Yes, but you’ve met him, haven’t you? When you tried to destroy Midgard—“ Valkyrie reminded him in a raised voice. 

“Oh, shut up,” Loki growled. “May I remind you that at that time you were being of little help to Asgard, drinking and slobbering and playing as the Grandmaster’s slut—“

“I never— if anyone was his slut, it was you, Loki—“ Valkyrie snarled, eyes flashing. 

“Now is not the time, you two!” Thor barked over their bickering. “Our entire population is threatened, and all you can do is fight.” 

The two snapped their mouths shut, and after one final glare, strode after Thor and helped raise the alarm. 

“Perhaps their intentions are friendly,” Korg said hopefully when everyone had gathered on the bridge. 

“Right,” Loki scoffed. “Look, let me just dash your dreams really quick; Thanos is here to destroy us— more accurately, me,” he added with a wince. “I… have failed him in the past. I’ve done my best to hide from him. It hasn’t been easy. Now, it looks like my time is up.”

“Great, so it’s your fault that we’re all on the brink of death,” Valkyrie groaned. “Why didn’t I guess?”

“That’s not what I said.” Loki bristled. “It’s only mostly my fault.”

“Most things are,” Valkyrie retorted. 

“My guess is that this Thanos could barely resist a ship packed full with the last of a population,” Thor interceded. “If Thanos is as bad as you say he is—“

“He is—“

“—then I’m sure he’d love to get his hands on our people.”

“Probably,” Loki admitted. “Genocide is his afternoon activity. I’m joking,” he added at Korg’s horrified look. 

Their conversation was ended when a jolt shook the ship, making lights blink out and sirens wail. Red beams flashed in the darkness, and for a moment, Valkyrie could make out Loki’s face, illuminated by scarlet light. An expression haunted him that Valkyrie had not yet seen on his face: terror. He stared up out of the window with wide, frightened eyes, pupils dilated with fear and brow creased with distress. Another blast, this one stronger, rocked the ship. Asgardians cried out in fear, clutching at one another and crying out. 

Valkyrie whipped around to face Thor. “What—“

“I don’t know.” Thor gasped. “This ship has barely any weapons compared to Thanos, and I have a feeling that we’ve only just started to feel his power—“

Boom. The thick glass of the windows started to crack. Loki rushed to them. “There’s nothing we can do. We’re doomed. The only one of us who could escape is— well, Thor, you could probably escape— look, you need to get out of here—“

“No way.” Thor grunted. “I’m not leaving, not now. I can’t—“

“Look, you don’t have a choice!” Loki yelled. “It’s either stay here and die, or get captured and tortured or whatever Thanos will do to us— or you can run and find help.” Loki paused and glanced at the refugees huddling by the bridge. “I’ll look after them.”

“Full offense, Loki, but you’re a horrible king,” Valkyrie snorted. “I’ll look after them.”

“No, I’ll look after them because I’m their king and I’m not going anywhere!” Thor boomed, but who was to look after the refugees, Valkyrie didn’t find out, because at that moment, another blast hit the ship, and the world exploded around them. 

=•=

Everything hurt. Valkryie’s skin felt too tight, like if she moved the wrong, everything would snap. Her mouth was dry and her chest ached, like somebody has tried to rip it apart. Her head pounded and her eyes felt crusted shut. Something sticky ran down her face. 

“Hey— Val, you awake?”

With a mix between a groan and a whimper, Valkyrie forced her eyes open. She was sitting… somewhere, slumped against a wall in an awkward position, as though somebody had just tossed her there. Darkness mostly surrounded her, but here and there she could pick out shapes that seemed to be more or less in her same predicament. She tried to sit up and her back screamed in protest, vengeful after hours of being curled against the wall. She turned her head slightly to try and see who had alerted her. 

“Valkyrie?”

“L-Loki? S’that you?”

“Yes. Look, I think we’re on Thanos’ ship— after the explosion, they must’ve pulled in the survivors—“

“Thanos—“ Explosion. Survivors. Right. Valkyrie groaned. “Gods, Loki, why couldn’t you just have— I dunno, surrendered yourself to Thanks and let all of us remain safe on our ship, happily devoid of yours and Thanos’ presences?”

“Even if Thanos was in a negotiating mood— which he obviously wasn’t— that would not have worked. Once Thanos knows what he wants, he takes it, and anyone in the way gets crushed. Besides, like Thor said, perhaps Thanos wanted to commit mass genocide or something—“

“But he didn’t,” Valkyrie interrupted with a frown. “I mean, we’re still alive. Why didn’t he let us freeze in space?”

“Information, I’d suppose,” Loki guessed. 

“About what?” Valkyrie inquired. At Loki’s silence, she narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “What did you do that made Thanos so angry?”

“Where is Thor?” Loki asked. Valkyrie scowled at the obvious change of subject, but she let it slide. For now. 

“I’ve been wondering that as well. If we survived, so did he,” Valkyrie thought out loud. “But he’s not here. Is he being kept in a separate… room? Cell? Whatever this is?”

“Or did he manage to escape?” Loki mused. 

“Let’s hope,” Valkyrie muttered. “Because otherwise, we’re screwed.” She scrutinized Loki for a moment then said, “Can’t you do a magic trick and get us out of here? Vaporize or teleport or snap your fingers?”

Loki’s eye roll was so dramatic Valkyrie was surprised his pupils didn’t just disappear. “It doesn’t work like that, and it’s not just a matter or snapping your fingers and—“

“Is the answer yes or no?” Valkyrie snapped. 

Loki gave her a baleful look, then after a moment’s silence— “No.”

Valkyrie huffed and leaned against the wall again. “Pathetic. What’s that point of magic you can’t do anything useful with it?”

“My magic is extremely useful,” Loki growled, “but against forces such as Thanos—“

“What’s so great about this Thanos anyways?” Valkyrie snarled. “You keep waffling on about how powerful and terrifying he is. I mean, how bad can he be?”

“You’re about to find out,” a deep voice said, making both of them jump. A tall figure with glowing yellow eyes swept through the previously locked door. In the dark, it was difficult to see much, but Valkyrie thought it might be a female. Several guards appeared to flank her, grabbing Valkyrie at the figure’s command and dragging her towards the gaping door. 

“Get your filthy, disgusting, boorish—“ Valkyrie yelled, writhing in their grasp in vain. The figure chuckled slightly, yellow eyes glaring brighter. 

“You may want to compose yourself, Valkyrie. Thanos won’t be amused by your spirit.” She swept out of the chamber and flicked her finger for the guards to follow her. 

“Valkyrie,” Loki hissed, “whatever you do, don’t upset Thanos. He’s more powerful than you think, be careful—“

Then the doors swished closed behind Valkyrie, and she allowed herself to be dragged into the darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I’m actually on time for something for once. Anyways, hope you enjoy and hope it’s long enough.

“So.” 

The entire room seemed to vibrate with his voice, filling the empty space and driving the single syllable deep into the walls. 

Valkyrie managed to bite back a sarcastic, “So what?”, but it was a close one. 

“You are the Valkyrie. The one who helped… save Asgard.”

Again, Valkyrie kept her mouth shut. Pitch blackness surrounded her, and no matter how hard she tried she could not see through it. Sometimes she thought the speaker was in front of her, sometimes he sounded behind her. She didn’t know. 

“What do you know about Infinity Stones?”

The question threw her off. It was so random that Valkyrie wasn’t sure if it was a joke or not. “Infinity Stones? I’ve… never heard of them.”

“She lies,” a different voice hissed— the voice that belonged to the figure that dragged her out of her cell. 

“I know,” Thanks growled. “Know your place, Supergiant. Don’t think you know more than me.”

Supergiant fell silent. 

“I’ll ask you again, Valkyrie— what do you know about Infinity Stones?”

Valkyrie bit her lip. “...not much. A long time ago— a long time ago, I was investigating a disturbance for Odin, but not for long— I was called off the job for no apparent reason. The only explanation I ever received was something to do with an Infinity Stone. Since then, I’ve learned little. I know that they’re extremely powerful, and that there are several different stones, but that’s about it.”

You talk too much, Valkyrie scolded herself. They didn’t need to know all that. At the same time, a cold feeling swept over her. She hasn’t meant to say all that she had. It was like someone had secretly crept into her mind and made her say it; somehow, without her even realizing it until it was too late. 

“I believe you know more,” Thanos murmured. “I believe you know that whereabouts of a certain Space Stone.”

“What?” Valkyrie said blankly. “I… space? No. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t try to lie, girl,” Supergiant sneered, but was abruptly silenced. Why she was cut off,Valkyrie couldn’t tell. 

“Very well,” Thanks rumbled eventually. “Supergiant, release her back to her cell and bring me Loki.” He said the name like it was something nasty on the bottom of his shoe. Something grabbed Valkyrie and pulled her away again. 

=•=

“What the hell, Loki?” Valkyrie snarled once the cell doors shut. “What did you think you were doing, messing around with Infinity—“

“SHH!” Loki hissed. He gestured silently around the room, and Valkyrie realized that some of the other survivors were coming to, groggily shaking their heads and blinking with bleary eyes. 

“Are you injured?” Valkyrie inquired softly, dropping to her knees by the side of one of them. 

“I don’t— I don’t think so,” the refugee said shakily. “No— I’m fine.”

“What’s your name?” Valkyrie asked gently, letting the old man lean against her. 

“Barow,” he told her. “Do you know where my husband is? He was just here— well, not here— on the ship— but what happened? Where…” he trailed off, looking distressed. 

“I’m sorry,” Valkyrie whispered. “I… I don’t know. He may be somewhere else…”

“Or he may be dead,” Barow finished flatly, realizing what Valkyrie meant as she trailed off. He turned away, eyes shimmering slightly as he trembled. 

“I’m sorry,” Valkyrie repeated numbly. Barow just nodded, seemingly unable to talk. 

“What— Hey, no—“

Valkyrie whipped around to see more guards seizing Loki and starting to haul him from the cell. Loki writhed like an upended beetle in their grasp, panic written across his features. It was similar to the terror Valkyrie had witnessed earlier, but this time, it seemed more desperate. 

“Please, no— you can’t— he’ll kill me, please, DON’T—“ Loki was begging now, frantically turning to try and face the visored guards.

“Oh, he won’t kill you,” Supergiant’s delighted voice said. “It’ll be much worse than that.”

“No, PLEASE, I CAN’T, DON’T MAKE ME— I CAN’T— VALKYRIE DON’T LET—“ then the doors swished shut and his screams became muted. 

Valkyrie let out a shaky breath. The terror on the doomed ship was one thing; this was something else. Valkyrie hadn’t known Loki for long, but she had never seen or heard him like that before. The Loki she had come to know was cool and composed, always ready with smooth wit and a smirk and a trick. This Loki was scared and despairing, ready to beg and plead. Valkyrie let out an unsurprised grunt. Loki did seem to be the sort of person who would do anything to live, even if it meant whining and groveling and living dishonestly. Still. Valkyrie wondered why Loki was so terrified. From what she had seen of Thanos, he’d seemed powerful and yeah, pretty frightening, but Loki was practically peeing his pant at the mere mention of him. 

“He’ll be fine,” Valkyrie said out loud, drawing a startled look from Barow. 

=•=

Loki was not fine. He was very not fine, he was very not fine, he was VERY. NOT. FINE. 

This was what was running through the god of mischief’s mind as he was dragged along the shadowed corridor, having fallen into mute terror. He could make out Supergiant’s shape in front of him. He had briefly met the Black Order before his invasion of Midgard, but he had barely learned their names before everything on Earth had gone wrong and Loki was forced to go into hiding. 

“Behave yourself,” Supergiant purred, and then Loki was thrusted into a large chamber and the doors grated closed behind him. 

For a time, everything was completely, eerily quiet. It unnerved Loki, as he was sure it was supposed to. He could hear his own heart beating, feel his pulse jumping through his body. He licked his lips and shifted his weight, desperately wanting to break the silence with some sort of quip or comment but refusing to let Thanos know how uncomfortable he was. 

“Loki, son of Laufey. Do you remember what I told you?”

Loki drew in a shuddering breath and didn’t reply. Just the sound of the voice sent tremors through his body. 

“Well? Do you?”

In a great show of self control, Loki bit his lip and remained silent.”

“You remember, the thing I told you right before sending you to Earth with an Infinity Stone in your hand and a purpose in your mind and my army at your command?”

Loki firmly told himself that if he passed out with fright right now, Thanos would not be at all impressed. 

“You might remember it as that little detail I informed you of before you wasted my soldiers, lost the scepter and found yourself stuck in Asgardian prison.”

Loki let out a quiet, shaky breath and closed his eyes. 

“I told you,” Thanos went on, voice threaded with veiled fury, “that if you failed me, there would be no place you could hide that I would not find you. No place. I said to myself I would find you, and I would dig you from whatever hole you were cowering in, and I would make you beg for forgiveness as I ripped you to pieces, as I taught you a new meaning of pain, as I ripped your soul from your body.”

Silence. 

“So. What do you have to say for yourself?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come check me out on tumblr @the-first-refrain!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m bad at writing sooooooooo  
> Sorry

Valkyrie had long since fallen asleep when she heard the door softly swish open again. Wincing at her sore joints after the few hours of lying on the floor, Valkyrie forced herself to sit up as heavy footsteps sounded at the entrance, closely followed by the noise of a heavy object being dragged. Peering through the darkness, Valkyrie managed to glimpse said object being dropped into a graceless heap on the floor. 

Flinching as the door was crashed shut again, Valkyrie scrambled over to the crumpled Loki, who laid unmoving on the cold ground. His dark hair was splayed across his face, contrasting his pale lips and bloodless face. The only blooms of color were his wet eyelashes and two matching cuts, running from the edges of his eyebrows to his jaw and weeping crimson blood. 

Valkyrie quickly checked the rest of his body, but besides his marked face and obvious unconsciousness, Loki seemed fine. She exhaled slightly and checked his pulse, which seemed normal. But he appeared all but dead, with nothing but the faint rise and fall of his chest to betray him. 

“Is he alright?” A quiet voice behind Valkyrie made her jump. She turned to see a young woman sitting in the shadows. Valkyrie remembered seeing her on the ship at some point, but didn’t remember hearing her name. 

“I think so,” Valkyrie replied, turning back to Loki. She shook him slightly, then added, “He won’t wake up, though.”

“May I see him?” The woman asked hesitantly. “I was… a somewhat amateur healer back on Asgard.” Her voice shook when she mentioned her old home, but she seemed confident, so Valkyrie stood back and let her look at the god of mischief. 

“You’re right, he seems fine,” the woman told her. “I believe he has been put into an induced sleep. If I’m right, he’s probably enduring some sort of mental torture. Nightmares, probably. That sort of thing. The cuts on his face may have something to do with it. What they do, I don’t know.”

“So he’s being tortured as we speak?” Valkyrie asked, an odd feeling clutching at her chest. It was almost… almost pity. Maybe something else. 

“Like I said, I can’t be sure,” the woman repeated. “It’s all speculation.”

“Thank you for your help,” Valkyrie said after a silence. “What’s your name?”

“Serlah, ma’am,” was the reply. 

“Oh— there’s no need to call me that. Just call me Valkyrie. Everyone does,” Valkyrie told her, and yet— she remembered her name from long ago, before everyone simply called her “Valkyrie”. She remembered someone yelling it triumphantly, she remembered someone crying it in the night, and she remembered someone whispering it as the breath fell from their lips and the light faded from their eyes. 

“Actually,” Valkyrie added abruptly, “call me Brunnhilde.” And just like that, she was Brunnhilde again. 

=•=

Loki was dreaming. 

He was dreaming of the end of the his world. 

Not the end of the world. The end of his world. 

Thor was dying, or dead, or— Loki didn’t know. The god of thunder was curled in a ball on the floor, blood streaming from too many wounds, his eye patch gone, his blood pale. Frigga was decapitated, her body sprawled on the floor and her head rolling to Loki’s feet. Odin was alive— but there was a chilling sneer on his face and a cold indifference in his as he spat “I don’t love you, Laufeyson. I never have.” Valkyrie (Why was Valkyrie here?) lay twitching on the blood-spatter ground, whimpering as pain gripped her body. In the background, somebody was yelling his name. 

Loki was on his knees. The world spun around him. It never seemed to end. Every glimpse sent daggers shooting into his heart. Every word stung more than any wound could. “Stop,” he whispered, tears blurring his vision. “Please. Make it stop.”

“I could make it stop if you would just wake up, dammit!”

Loki’s eyes flew open. He was laying on the ground— no— on somebody’s lap. His mouth tasted like hell and his muscles groaned. His hair was tangled and his eyes complained every time he blinked, but he was alive. He hadn’t expected to be alive when he returned from Thanos’ chamber. He was… comfortable, more or less. Despite the dark images whirling in the back of his mind, he was okay for now. 

Wait. 

Valkyrie— lap? Lap— Loki was laying in Valkyrie’s lap. 

He let out an odd noise somewhere between a yelp and a snarl and struggled to sit up. Valkyrie made an indignant noise and forced him down, only to be met with a growl and and a frown as Loki doubled his efforts. Gritting her teeth, Valkyrie abruptly stood up, and Loki fell gracelessly from her lap into a crumpled heap on the floor. 

“I was just trying to be kind!” Valkyrie snapped. “A little thanks would go a long way, or at least a little gratitude!”

“Gratitude?” Loki scoffed as he massaged his jaw. “For what? Doting on me?”

“Yes!” Valkyrie flashed back. “I was making sure you were okay!”

“I was fine!” Loki hissed, and for a second, he could see Valkyrie laying in bloodied heap in the back of his mind. He fumbled for a moment, but quickly regained his composure. If Valkyrie noticed anything, she didn’t mention it. 

“Great!” Valkyrie threw her hands up in exasperation. “I wonder why I even cared in the first place, Loki!”

“So do I, Valkyrie!”

Valkyrie glared at him for a moment, before turning away and mumbling something under her breath. 

“What?”

“I said, my name is Brunnhilde,” she repeated, louder this time. 

Loki gave her a weird look. “Brunnhilde?”

Valkyrie jutted her chin our defiantly. “Yeah. You really thought that back in the day, everyone just wandered around calling me ‘Valkyrie’ while there were hundreds of other valkyries?”

To be honest, Loki has never really considered it. He had never asked her name, actually— he knew her scrapper identification number and knew that Thor called her Valkyrie. He opened his mouth to respond, before finding he didn’t know how and closed it again. Valkyrie— or Brunnhilde (or something)— gave him one final baleful look before turning and storming away to attend to the refugees. 

Loki watched her go. He wondered if he should try to help the Asgardians as she did. He tried to imagine himself in her place at the moment, kneeling next to a young woman and asking questions with genuine concern in her voice. He could have laughed. True, he had come a long way since his invasion of Earth, but that still didn’t mean he would be nominated for Best Person of the Year. He wouldn’t ever understand why people would care so much about complete strangers. Compassion, he guessed. Loki knew compassion. It was just… different to him. A concept. A stranger. 

He wasn’t a bad person. At least, he wasn’t worse. But he wasn’t there yet. He wasn’t a good person. Privately, Loki wondered: would he ever be a good person?

The god of mischief laughed to himself, drawing alarmed looks from several refugees probably already questioning his sanity. Loki, a good person. What a strange idea. 

=•=

“So, how exactly are we going to escape?” Brunnhilde asked after all the refugees were asleep. 

Loki glanced up in confusion. “Escape?”

“Yeah. You know,” Brunnhilde rolled her eyes, “get out of here? Leave? Run away? Go somewhere that is anywhere but here?”

Loki gave a small chuckle, which annoyed Brunnhilde to no ends for little reason at all. “You don’t just ‘escape’ from Thanos, Val— Brunnhilde. He’s all-powerful—“

“Stop it!” Brunnhilde snapped. “No, he’s not! Nothing is all-powerful, not in my experience.”

“Thanos is,” Loki muttered. 

Brunnhilde inhaled deeply, not allowing herself to succumb to the urge of smacking Loki until she knocked some sense into him. She searched her mind for some other subject besides smacking Loki. 

“Tell me about Infinity Stones,” she commanded finally, sitting down next to him. 

Loki gave her a look halfway between surprise and annoyance, then sighed and relented. “I don’t know everything about them. I know that there are six of them: Space, Reality, Time, Mind, Power, and Soul. They are… or were… entities of some sort. I’m not sure. They were powerful— the most powerful. Now, they’re scattered, but Thanos collecting them. His goal is to wield them in his Infinity Gauntlet.”

“And then what?” Brunnhilde prompted when he paused. 

“Kill everyone, I suppose.” Loki shrugged. “He never told me his whole plan.”

“And why does he think we know where they are? Specifically the Space Stone?”

Loki was quiet for a moment. “When I was sent to Earth, I was sent to find the Tesseract, a… door maker, of sorts. Inside the Tesseract is the Space Stone. After I failed to acquire the stone for Thanos, I was sent with the Tesseract back to Asgard.”

“But Asgard’s gone,” Brunnhilde said with a frown. “Is the Tesseract gone, too?”

“Infinity Stones can’t be destroyed,” Loki explained carefully, an uncomfortable look spreading across his face. “But…”

“...but the Tesseract wasn’t in Asgard when it exploded, was it?” Brunnhilde said slowly, realization dawning. Loki shook his head almost imperceptibly. 

“Oh, you son of a bitch!” Brunnhilde snarled, jerking away from Loki, sparks flaring from her eyes. 

“It was just sitting there!” Loki desperately tried to defend himself. 

“It doesn’t matter!” Brunnhilde spat. “You know what this means? This means that it was 100% your damn fault that Thanos found us and destroyed our ship! It’s your fault that over half our remaining population is now dead, and it’s your fault that we’re stuck in this prison with no knowledge of how long we’ll be here, where Thor is, or if we’ll ever get out of here!”

“Look, if I hadn’t grabbed it, Thanos would have found it in Asgard’s ruins by now, and he would have placed it on his gauntlet, and he would be one step closer to world destruction,” Loki growled, turning his back to her. 

“You don’t even know if world destruction is what he wants!” Brunnhilde yelled. 

“It’s Thanos! What else would he want besides world destruction?” Loki cried. 

Brunnhilde and Loki were on their feet now, inches apart as the glared at each other. The Valkyrie was five seconds from skinning him, while the god gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes. 

“Where is it now?” Brunnhilde finally asked after several tense moments. 

“I’m not telling you,” Loki sniffed. 

Brunnhilde let out an animalistic snarl and her hands twitched for her daggers, painfully remembering that they were gone. “I don’t trust you period, so there is no way I’m going to trust you with an Infinity Stone. Where. Is. It?”

Loki didn’t reply. 

“You do still have it, don’t you?”

“Of course I do!” Loki snapped. “If I didn’t, Thanos would have found it by now and killed us.”

“Killed us?” Brunnhilde repeated.

“He wouldn’t need us anymore, would he?” Loki pointed out. “No need for information on something you already have.”

“Well, if you do still have it, then why hasn’t Thanos taken it yet?” Brunnhilde demanded. 

“Magic,” Loki said, like she was a small child that needed a simple matter explained to her. “I’ve put a spell on it.”

“A spell strong enough to fool Thanos?”

“Yes,” Loki confirmed, trying and failing to not sound pleased. “I still have the Tesseract, but it’s… disguised, in a way. Nobody can see it except for me. Only I know what it really is.”

“So tell me what you’ve disguised it as!”

“No!”

“You—“ Brunnhilde didn’t need knives to take her anger out. She grabbed Loki’s shoulders and thrusted him against the wall. She might’ve been shorter than him, but she still managed to be intimidating as stared into his eyes and hissed, “Tell me what it is. Now. If I’ve learned anything about you, it’s that you’re incompetent, weak, and selfish, and it is in everyone’s best interest if you hand over the Stone to someone who can handle it!”

Loki met her gaze evenly, a shadow of a grin on her face that made Brunnhilde want to scream. “I don’t trust you period, so there is no way I’m going to trust you with an Infinity Stone.”

Brunnhilde stared at him for a moment, her own words echoing back. 

“Trust goes both ways,” Loki said quietly. 

After several tense moments, Brunnhilde released her grip on Loki and took a few steps back. She realized she was breathing heavily and took a deep breath. Her face was flushed and her mouth dry. Stars, she wanted a drink. She was still staring at Loki. He was still looking in her eyes. Why wasn’t he looking away? 

Angrily, Brunnhilde tore her gaze away, forcing her fists to unclench as she allowed Loki to slip past her. A few refugees were staring at them bewilderingly. 

The refugees. Right. Brunnhilde did her best to return to tending to them, unable to answer most of their questions (Where is Thor? When will be fed? Will we be fed?) and unable to answer most of her own (Where is Thor? Where is Bruce? Why is Loki so infuriating? Was I standing too close to him? Why wouldn’t he stop looking after me?). Her thoughts ran into a vein mostly concerned with Loki before she felt her face warm and shook herself, and her questions would start over again. Somehow, they always ended up on Loki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I ever slip and call her Valkyrie instead of Brunnhilde then just yell at me  
> it-has-to-be-dope is my new tumblr!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the lateness. I have like, no excuse.

It was about the next day (or Loki assumed it was— there was no way to tell if it was day or night) that the guards came for him again. He had just been arguing with Brunnhilde again when the guards just grabbed him and left, his mouth still ready with stinging retorts and counter arguments. Struggling did no good, but to Loki’s surprise, he was not taken to Thanos’ chamber again. Instead, he was taken to smaller room filled with armor and assorted weapons.

“What— What is this?” Loki demanded.

“Take what you need,” one of the guards grunted, but would say nothing more. 

Loki’s heart sunk. He knew what this was. He could’ve laughed at the irony— a few days ago, he was a better at one of these tournaments, and now, he would be forced to take place in one of those fights. 

“Who am I fighting?” he asked, resigned. 

Unsurprisingly, the guards didn’t respond. 

In the end, Loki took two long daggers and a couple of throwing knives. The guards led him down a dark hallway (Why was everything here so dark? Did these guards not need to see or something?) and before long, a gate opened and he was thrusted into an arena. The stands were not as filled as the Grandmaster’s were, nor as diverse or flashy. The only observers seemed to be guards and perhaps other prisoners, closely regulated and guarded. Thanos himself wasn’t there, and Loki wondered if he even ordered this. The guards probably were allowed to do whatever horrible things they wanted to the prisoners. While the Grandmaster’s arena was filled with cheers and screams of delight, Thanos’ guards jeered and snarled at Loki. The god of mischief simply lifted his chin and portrayed the practiced look of careful indifference. 

On the other end of the arena, a different gate creaked open and none other than Brunnhilde stepped out, garbed in full body armor. Her hair was pulled back in a braid that flowed down her back like dark river. She gripped a black sword, and, judging by the dangerous glimmer in her eyes, she was still stinging from their earlier argument.

“Well, the joke’s on you!” Loki yelled at the audience. “We won’t hurt each other! If you think we’ll agree to this petty fight, you are woefully--”

He was cut off by the flat side of Brunnhilde’s sword catching him in his gut. Letting out a surprised grunt as the audience roared with laughter, Loki fell onto his back to see Brunnhilde, not even faltering, swinging her weapon for another blow.

“What the hell!” Loki cried, rolling away just in time and leaping to his feet. Brunnhilde just snorted and swung low. Loki unsheathed his daggers and blocked her, still stinging. “Why are you trying to kill me?! I thought we were past this! Remember, I helped save Asgard?”

“And then you stole that damn Tesseract and killed Asgard!” Brunnhilde yelled.

“That’s not fair! I only killed some of Asgard. We don’t know how many survived. And anyways it was an accident!”

“Oh, alright then! Forgive and forget then, I suppose!” Brunnhilde hissed sarcastically.

“You seem to be unable to do that!”

“Forgiveness isn’t one of my stronger suites.” Brunnhilde parried and Loki dodged and flashed a dagger at her.

“Well, why don’t you just try to impale me on your sword, then? That seems reasonable!”

“It does, doesn’t it?” Brunnhilde ducked. “I think I’ll give it a try!”

Loki let out a snarl of pain when the sword cut into his back. “Seriously, what is wrong with you?”

“You should’ve worn armor” was Brunnhilde’s only reply. 

Loki bared his teeth and threw one of his knives at her. She deflected them and doubled her efforts, swinging and parrying and dodging and stabbing. Loki didn’t know how long they fought-- no longer than fifteen minutes, in all reality, but it seemed longer. Brunnhilde was relentless, diving in and flurrying and swinging and then jumping out again. Loki managed to hit her a good few times, but he was tiring. 

“Maybe if you tell me where the you-know-what is, I’ll back off a little bit,” Brunnhilde suggested.

“That’s your plan? Your angle? Try to kill me unless I give you information? This is a rather abusive relationship, isn’t it?” Loki teased, twirling his daggers.

Brunnhilde let out a snort of disgust and slammed her sword into his back again. “It is a good way to let off steam!”

“This isn’t letting of steam! This is doing something painful with your anger! This is so not letting off steam!” Loki grunted as the breath rushed out of him, and all it took was a kick to the back of his legs to make him fall to his knees. The audience was silent, holding its breath, waiting for the final blow. Brunnhilde swung her sword twice more, slicing into Loki’s back before kneeing him in the chest and forcing him onto his back. The sand of the arena was clumped with blood (mostly Loki’s). Loki was sweating and breathing hard and didn’t know how Brunnhilde had managed to beat him-- again. The Valkyrie swung her leg over Loki’s chest and smirked down at him. “Now… doesn’t this look familiar?” Then she brought the hilt of sword onto Loki’s temple and everything went black.

=•=

Loki awoke to feeling of calloused hands on his back. His surroundings swam in and out of view. Everything ached, but his head pounded above all other ailments. He groaned loudly and tried to black out again. When his body refused to shut down again, he groaned once more and tried to roll over.

“Don’t move. It’ll make it all hurt more.”

The sound of water sloshing made him open his eyes completely. Stars, he was thirsty. Where had the water come from? He saw a cup of less than clean water sitting by his face, and made a fumbling attempt to grab at it.

“No, don’t drink that. Here, this will taste better.”

A different cup was lifted to his lips and he drank eagerly. In seconds, it was gone, but Loki felt worlds better. He hissed when he felt a damp cloth being pressed onto a deep cut on his back and tried to arch away from the offender, only to pause when Brunnhilde-- of course it was Brunnhilde-- pressed her hand against his chest and pushed him gently back down.

“So--” Loki began hoarsely, “one moment you’re trying to impale me and the next you’re comforting me? They’re right, women don’t make sense.”

Brunnhilde made an annoyed sound, but it seemed less brittle than the previous times. “Don’t be so close minded. Men make little sense as well.” She dipped a ripped piece of cloth and soaked it in the water before dabbing his back.

Loki gritted his teeth against the sting and instead focused on Brunnhilde. She was kneeling by his side, looking well-worn and gritty, but Loki realized that he welcomed the sight of her. The realization seemed odd, because hadn’t she just tried to kill him? 

“I’m sorry about… this,” Brunnhilde sighed after a few more minutes of quiet.

“You should be,” Loki muttered sullenly. “My back hurts like hell.”

Brunnhilde smirked slightly, but soon her grin faded. “I… was just so frustrated. You weren’t cooperating, and they put a sword in my hands and pushed me at you and I just…” she shrugged. “I snapped.”

“I’m…” Loki heaved a sigh and looked away. “I’m sorry, too.”

Brunnhilde raised her eyebrows. “Excuse me? Sorry, could you repeat that?”

Loki huffed a laugh and rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” Brunnhilde teased. 

“For not telling you about the Tesseract. Look, I’m not saying I trust you— I’m still not telling you where it is, by the way— but… I had to protect the Stone. If Thanos asks you where it is, you couldn’t tell him, because you didn’t know. And you wouldn’t be lying, either.”

Brunnhilde’s hand had stilled on Loki’s back. Loki wasn’t facing her, but he could feel her eyes resting gently on his neck. He was suddenly highly aware that he topless, that he wore nothing above his waistline and that he was practically resting on Brunnhilde, her weight a solid reassurance at his side. He cleared his throat faintly, nearly imperceptibly, and Brunnhilde almost flinched and moved her hand away. Loki stood up and slid his garments back on when he found them in the corner of their cell. He fastened his cape, blinking quickly and shaking his head. Brunnhilde had turned away and was folding up the damp cloth. Without a word, she gathered herself and wandered away, leaving Loki to his confused thoughts.

=•=

At long last-- at long, long last, the guards brought food. It was stale and crumbly and moldy, but it was food. The refugees scrambled for it, scrabbling with shaky hands and peeling skin. Loki instantly made for it as well, but Brunnhilde snatched his arm and held him back.

“Get off!” he growled, straining away from her.

“Let the people eat first,” Brunnhilde warned in a low tone. “They need it more than we do.”

“They do not!” Loki protested. “I haven’t eaten in days!”

“Neither have they!”

“But neither have I!”

“Loki!” Brunnhilde snapped. “Stop acting like a petulant child! Let them eat first!”

Loki bared his teeth at her but stopped struggling. He looked on sulkily while the other Asgardians salvaged the edible and devoured it. The food was disappearing faster than Loki’s magic could have done.

“They’re eating all of it!” Loki said with a scowl.

“They are not!” Brunnhilde retorted. “Look.”

One of the refugees, a younger girl, had grabbed some bread and something that looked like meat and was making her way to the valkyrie and the god. Shyly, she offered it up to them. Loki gratefully snatched it up, while Brunnhilde gave the girl a kind smile and thanked her before taking her share of the food.

“They couldn’t have brought any water with the food, could they?” Loki complained when he was done eating.

“You’ll just never be satisfied, will you?” Brunnhilde sighed. “They brought us water yesterday. I suppose they expected us to save some of it.”

“And you didn’t?” Loki inquired.

Brunnhilde shot him a look. “I’m sorry, I was a bit preoccupied taking care of you, in case you’ve forgotten.”

“Oh, I haven’t forgotten,” Loki muttered under his breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have not proofread this so, im really sorry.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brunnhilde and Loki talk, and Serlah and Barow make bets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *slowly creeps out of hole* *publishes extremely late and short chapter* *apologetically scrambles back to hole*

The days fell into a sort of routine. Every day, the prisoners would be taken out to a room filled with chamber pots. Afterwards, they were thrown back into their cells where they eagerly waited once or twice a week for food and water, which they would try to ration out and make last. Although it definitely wasn’t easy for the refugees, Brunnhilde privately thought it was worse for Loki. Often, he would be dragged away by guards and would disappear for hours on end. Brunnhilde found herself restlessly awaiting his return, often taking up pacing. She wasn’t sure why she was so bothered by the lack of his presence. After careful consideration, she decided that it must be because she would hate to see Thor’s reaction if he returned only to discover his brother was gone. Yes, that must be it; she didn’t want to see Thor miserable. Of course, she told herself, that was the only reason that her heart unclenched with relief when Loki was brought back alive, no matter how bruised or beaten he was.

The periods that Loki was allowed to rest in between beatings were becoming shorter and shorter. The number of sessions with Thanos Loki was being forced to attend was increasing exponentially. It went from once every few weeks, to twice, to once a week, to twice a week, to thrice, to once a day. Today, Loki was barely conscious when he was returned and dropped unceremoniously to the floor. Brunnhilde, who had frozen when the cell door opened, instantly rushed over (as always) and protectively hauled him away from the backs of the retreating guards. 

“Assholes,” she muttered under her breath, ticked off.

Loki groaned slightly, making feeble attempts to pull himself off the ground. Brunnhilde returned her attention to him and restrained his efforts to sit up.

“Stay down,” she said in a low voice. “It’s worse this time. Stay down.”

He tried to mumble something, but Brunnhilde hushed him and cradled him in her lap. He tensed, but made no movement to back away. Brunnhilde sighed slightly and brushed his hair out of his face, scanning him for serious wounds.

“The wound on your shoulder is open again,” Brunnhilde informed him.

“Not surprised,” Loki muttered, his eyes half closed. “I think he’s trying to, like… cut it off as slowly as possible…”

“Well, it’s getting much deeper.” Brunnhilde frowned and sighed once more. “If you could tell me what exactly he’s doing to you--”

“It doesn’t matter,” Loki said firmly, his voice becoming clearer. “We don’t have medicine anyways, so there’s no point for me to relay my tragic torture sessions to you. It would waste my time and your tears.”

Brunnhilde scoffed loudly. She gently pulled Loki into a sitting position and let him lean against the wall. She peered closely at one of the gashes on his leg. “That looks pretty bad, too. Like you said, we don’t have any medicine, so our choices are pretty limited, but we could try a tourniquet of sorts--”

“Don’t,” Loki interrupted. “My wounds don’t bother me much. I’m a god, remember?”

Brunnhilde couldn’t resist a sarcastic laugh. “Right… a god… you…”

Loki grinned lazily at her, his features lax and comfortable. “God of mischief.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s a self-proclaimed title,” Brunnhilde teased, surprised to find that she wasn’t annoyed with Loki and his arrogance.

“Maybe,” Loki drawled. “Maybe not.”

“I’ll accept demigod,” Brunnhilde decided. “But there is no way, in any realm, that you are a god.”

“Midgard sure thought so,” Loki said quietly. It seemed like it should be another jibe, another joke, but his tone was subdued and soft.

Brunnhilde was silent. Any time she began to think that Loki was okay, that maybe he wasn’t a horrible, smarmy git one-hundred percent of the time, she would remember everything he had done to the people on Midgard, how many lives he had stolen, how much damage he had done. Maybe Thor was right, and he was changed now, but all the same, Brunnhilde couldn’t resist the cold, hard feeling in her stomach. Loki had never openly, willingly brought the subject up, so Brunnhilde couldn’t resist a flutter of surprise when he mentioned the realm.

“Why’d you do it?” she asked finally.

Loki was quiet. He stared a speck of dust on the ground, tracing his finger through the dirt. “I’m not going to pretend that it was all Thanos’ fault. That he messed with me, that he forced me, that he tortured me. Those things did happen, at least partially, but if I hadn’t gone and thought I could manipulate him right back, that I could feed some of my will to him…” he shook his head. “If I could take back what I did to them, I would. I wanted the Infinity Stone. I wanted both of them so bad that I disregarded life-- even human life, low though it may be-- just to acquire them.” Loki clenched and unclenched his fist. “Every day of my life, I always wanted… I always wanted my father to want and love me the same way he did Thor. I wanted Thor to notice and appreciate me the same way he did his other friends. And I thought…” he trailed off, staring at nothing. “I’m not sure what I thought. I was so young. And foolish, gods, I was foolish,” he gave a strange half-laugh. “At first, anything I did, I did for them. I thought they would be pleased. And when they weren’t I… told myself I didn’t care anymore. And I thought I knew I didn’t. Everything that happened in New York, I told myself, over and over, that I didn’t care. That all I wanted was to rule. To be king. And yet, deep down… I hoped they’d be pleased. That they’d see I could be a good king and they’d want me again. But then that crashed and burned… literally… and I was taken back to Asgard, and then Mothe-- Frigga died and Thor thought I was dead and then I was finally king. And you know what?” He paused and was quiet for a few moments.

“What?” Brunnhilde prompted softly.

Loki shook his head slightly. “I didn’t enjoy half as much as I thought I would. And then suddenly Thor’s back and Father’s gone for good and it turns out we have a sister and then the Grandmaster and the Hulk and Ragnarok and now Thanos. I have such a hectic life,” he ended with a small laugh.

Brunnhilde found herself smiling slightly. It wasn’t a happy smile or an amused smile it was just… a satisfied smile. An at-peace smile. Now she knew. Or she at least knew more. She wasn’t sure what to say, or if she should say anything at all, so she compromised by simply putting her arm on Loki’s shoulder.

Across the cell, opposite from where Brunnhilde and Loki huddled, Serlah and Barow watched out of the corner of their eyes. 

“I’d give it a month, at most,” Serlah said quietly, only loud enough for Barow to hear.

“Not even,” Barow grunted. “They’ll realize it before a fortnight is up.”

“No, they’re stubborn, especially Brunnhilde,” Serlah replied conversationally. “A month.”

“A fortnight.”

“Hmm… half my ration of food, bet on a month?”

“You’re on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> check me out at it-has-to-be-dope and the-first-refrain!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright so guys im gonna apologize in advance because this is another short one and i know the last one was also short but i have like no time to write these days. I was going to make this chapter longer, but then I realized that I hadn't updated this since like April and I felt really bad for leaving you guys hanging. So here's a soft pretty fluffy chapter.

Everything was warm, which was surprising. Warm and fuzzy. Loki sighed contentedly, keeping his eyes shut. If he had learned one thing about prison life on this ship, it was that it was cold. Loki snuggled closer to the warmth. He wasn’t sure how long he had been sleeping, but if his internal clock was accurate (and it usually was) he’d guess it was sometime in the early morning. However, he could never be truly sure, because for one thing, there were no windows in their cell, and for another, they were in the middle of space. 

The warmth shifted and grumbled in its sleep. Loki froze and opened his eyes.

He was tucked under Brunnhilde’s cloak, his head nestled below her chest and his body curled in a ball against her stomach and thighs. One of her arms was resting on his head. Loki cursed internally.

A large part of him was yelling at him to get away from her as fast as he could, to be disgusted with himself and her, but a smaller, quieter, but firmer part of him was saying It’s nice and warm… and she’s not awake… she won’t know… and it feels good…

It did feel good, but Loki didn’t want to admit it. He was snug, tucked up against her body so that they could share warmth. That’s what made him want to stay, he supposed. The advantage of body warmth. It was natural to want to be warmer in such a cold environment… No, he cared nothing at all for the close contact with the Valkyrie.

Still, after only a few moment, Loki forced himself away from Brunnhilde, telling himself the clench in his heart was his disappointment from the present lack of heat. Thankfully, Brunnhilde remained asleep. Loki found himself watching her in a fascinated sort of way. She wasn’t pretty-- at least, certainly not any more after weeks of life without showers or brushes or any sort of soap--but she still retained a sort of personal, natural glow that didn’t come from her physical appearance. She looked so peaceful, lying on her side, asleep, the only movement being the steady rise and fall of her chest. A strand of matted hair had fallen across her chapped lips. Nothing interesting, or at least, nothing Loki should be interested in. Even Loki could acknowledge that she was pretty, or at least prettier, before this imprisonment, yet somehow, staring at her too-loose clothes, shrunken body, ripped cloak, Loki thought she had never looked more beautiful.

And then immediately erased the thought and snatched Brunnhilde’s cloak off her.

“What the--” Brunnhilde opened her eyes blearily, and shot an angry look at Loki. Not even awake for five seconds and she was already glaring at Loki. “What was that for?”

“I’m cold,” Loki complained, wrapping the cloak around him.

“Bitch,” Valkyrie growled. “Give it back, it’s not my fault that you lost yours.”

“I didn’t lose mine, somebody ripped it to shreds in the arena!”

“I ripped it to shreds after arena, to help patch you up!”

“You wouldn’t need to patch me up if you hadn’t actually fought me in the first place!”

They remained arguing until all of the prisoners had woken up to the sound of their bickering, to the surprise of none. Barow and Serlah exchanged looks but remained silent.

When the fight had descended from its zenith, Brunnhilde threw her hands up in exasperation and stalked away. Loki glared after her, firmly ignoring the perceptible weight of disappointment in his chest. He half-heartedly kicked the wall, which did absolutely nothing except for bruise his toe. 

“Look… I’m sorry.”

Loki jumped, more out of surprise of the actual statement than the fact that Brunnhilde had startled him. “You’re… what?”

“Sorry,” Brunnhilde repeated irritably. “You know, something people say when they want to apologize--”

“No, no, I know what sorry means,” Loki interrupted with a grin growing on his face. “But I’m surprised that you do. You haven’t acted like it.”

“Haha,” Brunnhilde said sarcastically. “Look, I’m already regretting this, so--”

“Wait!” Loki stopped her before he had even told himself he was doing so. “Don’t… go.”

Brunnhilde paused.

“I… didn’t mean to be rude. I was just surprised. And… I’m sorry too.”

“Don’t apologize until I’ve finished apologizing,” Brunnhilde huffed, but there was a small smile on her face. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. I’m just really, really frustrated with being stuck in here and not being able to do anything and not knowing where Thor and Bruce are…” she heaved a cross sigh. “And I shoudn’t have taken it out on you. So. Sorry.”

“I forgive you,” Loki said teasingly, but when he continued, he was serious. “Look, we’re all going a bit crazy in here. It’s just as much my fault as it is yours. We should try to stop fighting and maybe try to start finding a way out of here.”

Brunnhilde frowned. “I thought you said--”

“I know what I said. But I’ve been thinking. Thanos isn’t always around, and even when he is, he doesn’t know everything that goes on around here, does he?” Loki hesitated. “Maybe… we should try to escape. It would be risky, yes, but worth it. Every day, Thanos gains more power . We need to get out of here before he gets any more.”

Brunnhilde leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Do you have a plan?” she inquired eagerly.

“Er… no,” Loki admitted.

Brunnhilde sat back, faintly disappointed.

“But I’m working on it,” Loki assured her quickly. “Somehow to get us all out of here. Alive, preferably. Alright, alright, definitely alive,” he added hastily at Brunnhilde’s expression.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY A CHAPTER WITH DECENT LENGTH

Although it was now usual for Loki to return from Thanos’ bloody and unconscious, what was not usual was to have the guards return within the hour, ready to haul Loki back to Thanos if needed.

“No,” Brunnhilde protested, a flare of desperation awakening inside her. “You can’t. He’s not even awake yet. He’s not-- he’s not ready, you can’t take him back--”

The guards paid her no attention and proceeded to grab Loki under the arms.

“Stop, get your hands off him,” Brunnhilde snarled, fear giving way to anger. “Stop-- alright, I said STOP!” 

Brunnhilde lunged at the closest guard, who made as though to step aside, but Brunnhilde was faster. She kicked him--hard--and while he was doubled over, she grabbed his throat and tried to throw him against the wall, only to be suddenly brought to her knees by a swift kick from another guard. A punch to the face followed, and then a hard jab in her gut that left her spluttering and winded. Perhaps before she would have been able to take them, but after weeks of malnutrition and lack of nourishment, she was easily weakened. Before she knew what was happening, she was being picked up and thrown back. Her head hit the ground and the last thing she saw before blacking was Loki being dragged away.

=•=

“I have to say, I’m very disappointed in our progress,” Thanos rumbled. 

Loki grimaced and shook his head, trying to discern real noises from the ringing in his ears.

“However,” Thanos continued, “I can’t say that I’m not the slightest bit impressed. You have grown since we last met. You have built up… resistance. Nerve. I’ll have to admire that. Perhaps your love to hear yourself speak has declined.. I’ve barely heard you say three words strung together.” 

Loki glared.

“But as much as I would love to be quietly impressed, we can’t continue like this. I can’t have you remaining quiet about the whereabouts of a certain Infinity Stone.”

“I’ll never tell you anything about the Tesseract,” Loki rasped

Thanos gave him a look of mock surprise. “He speaks! How startling. If only your first words were something less… disappointing.”

He waved his hand and Loki’s world crumbed, reduced to nothing but pain.

=•=

When the guards returned, Loki wasn’t with them.

Brunnhilde forced down the instantaneous panic that swelled in her chest and scowled. Thanos wouldn’t kill Loki. He needed him. Unless it was an accident…?

The guards, to nobody’s surprise, kept silent, but only grabbed Brunnhilde and jerked her along with them. She bared her teeth at them and half-tried to throw them off, but with a few forceful pushes she was subdued and brought along the dark hallway.

Although she couldn’t see as she was brought into an even darker room, Brunnhilde could feel the familiarity of the area around her. Thanos’ chambers. However, this time, she and Thanos weren’t alone. 

“Brunnhilde?” a hoarse voice whispered. “Is that you?”

“Loki?” Brunnhilde gasped, a ridiculous amount of relief flooding her.

“Ah, so you two do know each other,” Thanos murmured, putting an odd amount of emphasis on ‘know’. “I was hoping that.”

Brunnhilde frowned and got the feeling Loki was doing the same thing.

“You see,” Thanos sighed, “as I was trying to control-- sorry, I mean cajole-- Loki into talking, he started screaming. Screaming words, actually, or one word. A name.” He paused. “Do you know what name he was screaming?”

Brunnhilde heard rather than saw Thanos lean forward slightly.

“Well… I’ll give you a clue. It was the name of the girl standing in front of me now.”

Brunnhilde remained silent as a peculiar feeling twisted in her stomach. She shoved it away, telling herself she would study it later.

“So I thought about the two of you and realized, what with the hard times and close quarters… well, who knows…”

Brunnhilde gritted her teeth.

“Maybe torturing Loki won’t make him talk, but maybe…”

Loki caught on a second before Brunnhilde did.

“No!” he yelled, jerking forward. Guards grabbed him roughly and threw him back. Brunnhilde opened her mouth, half-turning to him, but she didn’t succeed in continuing either of those motions for one, very simple reason: a knife stabbing her through the heart.

Looking back, Brunnhilde realized that there was no knife, and certainly nothing going through her body, just a considerable amount of pain. She didn’t know how it was happening, but soon, the knife of pain was shooting through every reachable part of her body. She dropped to her knees and opened her mouth in a silent scream, refusing, or perhaps unable to, make a noise.

Loki stared at her in horror, eyes glazed over as he watched her torture. Then he whirled to face Thanos.

“Stop this. She has nothing to do with this. Nothing. Let her go, stop it, STOP IT!”

Thanos merely chuckled. “Of course. If, that is, you tell me where the Tesseract is.”

Loki gritted his teeth and glared. “Never.”

“Then the pain must go on.”

And so it did. Brunnhilde wasn’t sure if the pain was actually getting worse, or if it was just becoming more unbearable as it dragged on. She wasn’t sure if she started screaming or if she continued her silence. She wasn’t sure if she was even still in Thanos’ chamber. All she know was that it hurt. Bad. So bad that she couldn’t explain even if she wanted to.

At last, at long last, the pain ceased, and Brunnhilde was left gasping and twitching on the floor, red and black creeping away from her vision. Loki was staring at her, white-faced and terrified, fists clenched by his sides.

“Did you…” Brunnhilde whispered hoarsely, directing her implied question at Loki.

“I didn’t tell him anything,” Loki replied, looking pained. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want any of this to fall on you--”

And then the pain slammed into her again and Loki disappeared once more.

=•=

When Brunnhilde came to, she was no longer in Thanos’ chambers but instead in the old cell. The valkyrie never thought she would be so relieved to see it.

“Hold still,” a familiar voice murmured. 

Brunnhilde craned her neck and shifted to see Serlah kneeling over her, a rag in one hand. She relaxed slightly and allowed Serlah to hold the rag to her forehead, breathing a sigh of relief at the cool moisture.

“Is it bad?” Brunnhilde asked.

“I’m… not sure,” Serlah replied uncertainly. “There aren’t any external cuts or bleeding--”

“There’s not?” Brunnhilde turned to try and look and laid back down with a wince. Everything was sore.

“--but you have a lot of bruising. Whatever happened to you…” Serlah trailed off with a frown.

“I’m not even sure,” Brunnhilde muttered, slowly sitting up with a wince. 

“Take it easy,” Serlah warned. “It’ll be pretty painful, but I don’t think it’s fatal or permanent.”

Brunnhilde nodded distractedly, having just seen Loki, who was leaning against a wall, awake but looking distant. He hadn’t noticed she was awake yet. She made her way over to him.

“Brunnhilde,” he said in relief when she sat down next to him. “You’re okay?”

“Maybe not okay,” Brunnhilde replied with another wince. “But alive.”

Loki nodded anxiously, keeping his eyes on her. “I’m so sorry.”

Brunnhilde nearly laughed. “What for?”

Loki shrugged uncomfortable. “I didn’t want you to get involved. I didn’t tell you about the Tesseract for that exact reason, so you wouldn’t get involved. And yet, even though I tried to keep you away from him... “ his voice turned bitter, “he still managed to get to you.”

Brunnhilde shook her head. “It wasn’t your fault. You don’t need to apologize.”

“Maybe not. But I… before, I said awful things to you.”

“Before what?”

“Before everything. On Sakaar, with Thor, on the ship, even here in this cell. I just want to say sorry for everything.”

Brunnhilde was quiet for a moment. Then, “It’s okay. You’re okay. I forgive you.”

Loki gave her a small smile. 

There was a silence that was somehow filled as Brunnhilde and Loki looked at each other.

“Did he mean it?” Brunnhilde asked finally, her voice oddly soft and strained. 

“Did he mean what?”

Brunnhilde took a deep breath. “Did he mean it when you said you were screaming my name? Was he telling the truth?”

Loki looked at her steadily for a moment, a quiet light reflecting in his dark eyes. “Yes,” he told her finally.

He was close. Too close. How had he gotten so close? Brunnhilde’s hand was touching his. Her breath quickened. This shouldn’t be happening. Brunnhilde told herself to lean back.

She didn’t.

Instead, when his nose brushed hers, she leaned forward and closed the short distance.

Loki’s hand came up to cup her face as their lips met. Brunnhilde tried to calm her racing heart, but it was impossible to think about anything other than the man in front of her who she thought she hated but somehow didn’t, who she’d realized a long time ago she didn’t hate, who she maybe realized that she loved. His teeth brushed her bottom lip and Brunnhilde couldn’t resist a small shiver. It was slow and steady and chaste and Brunnhilde told herself she didn’t love it but she did. Loki shifted slightly a brushed a strand of her hair back with his free hand.

Loki pulled back slightly and Brunnhilde tried to ignore the rushing disappointment in her chest and instead focused on how badly she needed air. After a moment to breathe he was back, lips against hers, cradling her face and letting his tongue brush her lips.

Brunnhilde was kneeling in front of him now, desperation almost pouring from her as she clutched at him. This was not the time or the place for romance, and Brunnhilde knew kissing was about as far as they’d get, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy it. She settled into him, their bodies pressed together, loving this, this kiss, this moment that was eternity,

Across the cell, Barow was grinning at Serlah. 

“I’ll be taking your food rations,” he teased proudly.

Serlah just rolled her eyes and made a shushing motion at him. “Don’t interrupt!”

“Interrupt who? Them? Come on, they’re in their own world, they can’t hear us.”

“Yes, we can,” Loki’s exasperated voice came from the other side of the cell. “And shut up, please and thank you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY A CHAPTER WITH ROMANTIC ACTION  
> the-first-refrain is my tumblr, i'd love to hear from you!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUYS WHAT IS IT WITH ME AND NOT UPDATING  
> LIKE   
> WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME I ACTUALLY UPDATED ON TIME  
> I THINK NEVER  
> anyways, so like im so sorry about that. And, big surprise, this chapter is only a bit of a thousand words, so not even that big of a chapter. I'm so so so sorry. Things have been crazy. But school just got out so hopefully I'll have more time to write now!  
> ALSO, VERY IMPORTANT! I could not have written this chapter without MARVELGIRL's amazing idea and prompt, so all thanks to her!! She's been reading and commenting and liking and I'm loving it! We've even been chatting over tumblr and its been amazing so all love goes to her!  
> Enjoy the chapter!

When Loki was heaved away again, it was from Brunnhilde’s side. The guards grabbed him and pulled him out from under her, jerking her awake as her face hit the cold hard ground. He was gone before she could even protest.

Brunnhilde groaned as she sat up, wiping some of the grime from her face before leaning back against the wall. A shiver ran through her as she remembered that the last time she had been sitting here, she had been kissing Loki.

Actually kissing him. The infuriating, quirky, sarcastic, endlessly frustrating god that Brunnhilde somehow loved. And now he was gone again.

When the doors opened again, Brunnhilde perked up, but Loki was not with the guards that entered the cell. Panic clawed at her stomach when the guards seized her roughly and started to drag her back.

“No,” she cried out hoarsely, and much to her surprise the guards halted. However, it soon became clear that they had had no intentions of taking her away again. Instead, they were merely holding her back. Much to Brunnhilde’s satisfaction, it seemed the guards had learned to take her out early on as to not become a problem. But why were the restraining her now, when Loki was supposed to be returning, not being taken away…?

“Oh,” Brunnhilde breathed when she saw. 

Another wave of guards had entered, this time bringing a body with them.

“Loki?” she whispered.

He was awake but he wasn’t okay. His hands were chained and metal covering was clamped over his mouth like a muzzle. Brunnhilde jerked against the guards’ restraining hands, but to no avail as his hands and neck were chained to the wall. He glanced at Brunnhilde when she spoke, and his eyes were tired and sad and scared. She stumbled over to him and dropped down beside him when the guards dropped her and exited the cell.

“What…” she gasped. “Why would he… Loki…”

He just shook his head at her.

When a guard came with food, Brunnhilde turned desperately to Loki, who was watching it hungrily. Once again, he shook his head, looking pained. Brunnhilde tried everything she could think of to get it off, but the muzzle stubbornly remained.

“Tell me your godliness gives you the power to resist starvation and dehydration,” Brunnhilde mumbled wearily as she sat down next time, staring at the other wall.

Loki gave an unconvincing half-shrug.

“Thank you, by the way,” she said suddenly.

Loki gave her a questioning look.

“For not telling him where the Tesseract was,” Brunnhilde elaborated. “Even when I… you know. He had me.”

Loki nodded and looked away.

Brunnhilde was quiet for a long time, feeling that conversation was pointless when the other person couldn’t talk. Eventually, she glanced down to where Loki’s hand was lying limp in the dirt. Silently, she reached down and intertwined her fingers with his. Loki didn’t make any acknowledgment except for closing his eyes in near relief and giving her hand the smallest squeeze.

And for a moment, Brunnhilde didn’t care that they were stuck in the same hellhole that they’d endured for months and she didn’t care that they were starving and she didn’t care that this place smelled worse than Sakaar’s underground and she didn’t care that there was no end in sight. All she cared about was Loki’s hand wrapped around hers.

=•=

The only times Loki was let out of his chains was when he was taken to Thanos or the guards came to let the prisoners relieve themselves. Even then, the muzzle stayed on at all times, or as far as Brunnhilde knew. When his wrists were allowed out of their chains, Brunnhilde winced at the pink, raw skin underneath. Still, she knew that small pain must’ve been nothing to the desperate thirst and raging hunger he must have been experiencing. Although he made no noise, Brunnhilde could see the need and despair in his eyes when the food and water came.

“Most of us can stand about 100 hours with water,” Brunnhilde remarked softly as she sat next to him one time. “How long can you stand?”

Although the question was mostly rhetorical for Loki’s advantage, Brunnhilde couldn’t help but desire an answer. She thought it must take something more than lack of food and water to take down a god--or even simply Loki, stubborn as he was. Still, she had seen some of the mightiest fall from their lack of basic needs and knew that it could sneak upon anyone. One moment they would be alive and present, and the next just gone. And there was nothing you could do. 

Pushing down her swelling anxiety, Brunnhilde decided that she couldn’t just wait around for Loki--and by extension, all of them-- to die. It was time to put Loki’s plan to use.

Only one problem-- Loki hadn’t told her any beginnings of his plan before he had been muzzled.

=•=

“Alright, so this might take a while, but in the end, you’ll get your point across,” Brunnhilde said unsurely as she told her idea to Loki.

Loki sighed through his nose and have her a questioning look.

“Look, it’s time for us to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and get the hell out of here,” Brunnhilde told him in a low voice. “Any plan you have-- any start of a plan-- let me hear it. Or, see it, I guess.”

Loki sighed again but nodded. He closed his eyes and concentrated, his brow furrowing slightly. There was a soft breath and then his illusion took over Brunnhilde’s world.

The dingy cell vanished, replaced by a bright, beautiful location. She was standing in a green meadow that was full of colorful flowers and sat underneath a cloudless blue sky. Brunnhilde blinked slightly, trying to adjust her eyes from the dull grays of the cell to the bright hues of the nature around her. A sweet, heavy scent filled her nose and a gentle breeze caressed her skin. Brunnhilde wanted to lose herself in the bliss.

“Where… are we?” she asked.

“Technically, still in our cell,” Loki said behind her. When Brunnhilde turned to look at him, she saw that he was no longer muzzled or chained or dirty or too skinny, but instead the full, handsome man that Brunnhilde almost hadn’t remembered existed. “But in our minds, we’re in a place that I found a while back on one of my… adventures. It was always this beautiful, all the time, no matter what. I had difficulty re-finding it quite a couple times, but…” he spread his arms.

“This is amazing,” Brunnhilde breathed, looking around. “It’s all so amazing! How… it’s just…” she laughed in awe, “wonderful!”

Loki paused, an odd, almost hopeful expression on his face. “Really? You think so?”

“Of course!” Brunnhilde exclaimed, but she tore her eyes away from the beautiful scenery and forced herself to focus. “But down to business. This plan of yours... “

“Alright. I’ve been thinking it over, and I think it just might work,” Loki informed her, a small smile on his face. “Listen closely…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, the next one should be here soon. I really do promise to try my hardest to update soon.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our story comes to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I like, actually wrote something. Oh. And it’s the end. Enjoy!

The cell was completely bare now. Or, at least, it looked like it. Brunnhilde could look down and not even see her own hands. The chains that were holding Loki looked limp and empty. No one made a noise. They held their breath. And they waited. 

Then, noise. The door, creaking open. Two guards storming in, ready to take Loki away again. They froze when they saw the empty cell.

“No,” one of them groaned. “Thanos will have our heads for this!”

“Alert the others,” the one holding the keys grunted. “I’ll check the shadows to make sure nobody’s hiding.”

Brunnhilde took a deep breath and tended as the one guard ran off. This is what she was waiting for. She closed her eyes. Then she leapt, clamping her hands over the guard’s mouth and slamming a fist into his face. He slumped, unconscious, the keys dangling limply in his hands. Brunnhilde snatched them up.

There was a pause, and then the facade flickered and disappeared, revealing a room still full of Asgardians and Loki still pinned to the wall, looking tired but pleased after his illusion.

Brunnhilde worked a key into his handcuffs first, grinning when they fell to the ground and then unlocking his muzzle. The moment it dropped to the ground and reached out and kissed him, quick but deep, then pulled a rather startled Loki to his feet. She turned to the refugees.

“Alright, you know the plan,” she hissed. “I’m going to find the headquarters and grant us access to a ship. Loki will take the rest of you to the ship under the cover of his illusions. I’ll meet you there.”

Her eyes met Loki’s for a second, and he nodded grimly at her. She rested a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently. “Be careful.”

“You too.”

Brunnhilde dipped her gaze away to look at the Asgardians. She unexpectedly felt a surge of fondness for the ragtag group that had remained strong throughout this hell. She gave them one last smile before she headed out the cell door and into the darkness.

 

=•=

The headquarters were remarkably easy to find. At the top of the ship, looking into space sat a vast array of controls and buttons and the like. She figured them out fairly quickly and searched the database for ship control. Her fingers flew over the keys, eyes scanning the displays in front of her.

“I always knew Loki was a rat, but I had higher expectations for you, valkyrie.”

Brunnhilde whirled around, her heart flying to her throat in panic. Standing before her, finally out of the shadows, was a hulking violet man with small eyes and golden armor. The voice was familiar. Brunnhilde recognized it the second she heard it.

“Thanos,” she growled.

“No need to sound so hostile,” he replied calmly. “We barely know each other.”

“You tortured me!” She said in disbelief.

“It was nothing personal.” Thanos waved a large hand. “Just a little payback for all the failures Loki has placed at my feet.”

Anger practically blinded Brunnhilde as she remembered that this was the monster who had tortured Loki all this time, for months on end, who had cuffed him and trapped him and tore him. Only extreme self control held her back as the urge to throttle him nearly overcame her. Subtly, she started typing something into the keyboard behind her. She knew she needed to keep Thanos distracted so that Loki and the other Asgardians could reach the ship she was unlocking.

“Every time Loki failed you was nothing to what you are doing to the universe,” Brunnhilde spat, stalling. Loki has told her all about how Thanos has some crazy idea that killing half the universe would save it.

“I am doing nothing to the universe except for giving it a new chance,” Thanos retorted. “I am its salvation. Its hero. It should and will be grateful.”

“Right,” Brunnhilde said, feeling relief as she finished typing in the unlocking command and started to erase her work. “Because killing billions of people will definitely help them. I see your logic. I’m definitely tracking.”

“It is a small price to pay.” Thanos seemed very passionate about this, and was obviously distracted enough to not notice very Brunnhilde was doing behind her back. “One day, every soul in existence will eat, drink, and be happy, and it will all be thanks to me.”

“Oh no, no, I’m totally on your side.” Brunnhilde nodded solemnly. “Let’s go kill a bunch of people so that they can live.” She shut down the data and felt the smallest hum as it went dead.

Thanos suddenly stiffened. “What… did you  _ do? _ ” His hand flashed out and grabbed her by the neck, forcing her to cry out. “ _ What have you done? _ ”

“They… will live…” Brunnhilde gasps, her hands flying around Thanos’ meaty purple one. “I… saved them… better than you… ever will.”

Thanos let out a roar of anger, keeping his grip on Brunnhilde although loosening enough for her to breathe. He stormed out of the room and Brunnhilde started to panic as she realized he was headed toward the docking bay.  _ Please let them be gone,  _ she thought desperately.  _ Please let them have left without me. _

Of course they hadn’t, though.

The refugees were still scrambling onto the ship, Loki at the rear herding them, when Thanos burst into the room. Loki froze at first, then tensed when he saw that Brunnhilde was clenched in the titan’s hand.

“Brunnhilde!” Loki cried frantically. 

“Loki!” Brunnhilde screamed back. “Get them out of here! Go! Go with them, get out of here!”

“Oh, he won’t be leaving,” Thanos said with a chuckle. “Not even if he wanted to. He wouldn’t abandon his sweetheart, now would he?”

“Whatever game you’re playing at Thanos, the rules still haven’t changed!” Loki yelled. “I will never give you the Tesseract! The Space Stone will never be yours!”

“Maybe not today,” Thanks replied mildly. “I have learned that you will not give up the Stone, even at the cost of this one’s life,” He jostled Brunnhilde. “But there is another… another who will perhaps convince you… a certain brother.”

Loki paled but his voice was confident when he spat back, “Like I said. The Stone will never. Be. Yours.”

Thanos just cocked his head. “But you will be.” His grip on Brunnhilde tightened until she was once again struggling for air. “Surrender yourself to me or she dies.”

“No!” Loki screamed.

“Yes,” Thanos growled. “I’ll even allow your ship full of pathetic worms to leave with her. All you need to do is come with me.”

“Loki!” Brunnhilde wheezed, flailing in Loki’s grasp. “Don’t— don’t do it! Leave— now!”

“You’ll let her go?” Loki asked shakily. “You’ll let her go if I come with you?”

“Loki, no—“ Brunnhilde managed before the grip tightened further.

“Yes,” Thanos agreed. “Lay down your weapons, Loki.”

And Loki did. He dropped his knives and made his way over to Thanos. The titan dropped Brunnhilde, who lay on the ground, struggling to regain her breath.

“A wise choice,” Thanos said.

“Loki,” Brunnhilde forced out hoarsely.

“Shh,” Loki turned to her. “It will be okay. I always am. You know that. I’ll find you. I’ll come back for you. Just— just keep the rest of them safe, alright? And keep yourself safe.” His gaze softened. “I love you.”

“Loki…” she whispered, her throat tight.

“It’ll be okay.” He was crying but trying to ignore it. “I love you. And so it’ll be okay.”

“I— I love you too,” Brunnhilde murmured. Loki kissed her softly on the forehead before helping her up and pushing her towards the ship.

“Go! Get out of here! And stay safe!” He called.

Brunnhilde ran toward the ship, refusing to think of what she was leaving behind. She paused at the entryway and looked back one last time. Loki was being dragged away by Thanos, but his eyes still met hers.

_ I’ll find you. I’ll come back for you. _

Brunnhilde tore herself away and started up the ship, ignoring the worried and frightened mumbles of the Asgardians. As the ship pulled away, Brunnhilde got the first look at the stars that she’d had in months. A day ago, she would have been overjoyed. Now, she just felt empty.

She set the ship on autopilot and turned to the refugees. She took a deep breath and the people instantly quieted.

“I know… I know this has been rough. Real rough. And super bad. And a lot of other things. But… but Loki just gave himself up to let us escape and we are not going to waste that. I don’t know where Thor is, or if he’s even still alive, but if we can survive all that we’ve been through, then we can find him.” Brunnhilde paused for a moment. “We’ve all been through a lot together. But I know one thing: that there’s hope for us, and for all of Asgard. Thanos will be stopped, and we will be there to see it happen. We are survivors. We are Asgard.”

The refugees let out a strong, passionate cry, and for the first time in a long time, Brunnhilde felt hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finis.   
> If begged for, I will add an epilogue!   
> Please tell me how you felt in the comments section!  
> I am the-first-refrain on tumblr, come say hi!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue and fin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was not in the mods for angst, so have a crap load a fluff and little IW tie-ins.

NOW

Brunnhilde paced anxiously. She could hear the music. She could feel the excitement. She could practically taste the cake already. Everything was going to be absolutely fine. Nothing could go wrong. 

Brunnhilde paused and choked back a laugh. She knew she was kidding herself. It was Loki. How could nothing go wrong?

2 MONTHS AGO

The second she was out of Thor’s crushing embrace, the question fell from her lips. 

“Where’s Loki?”

Thor paused, taken aback for a moment. “Er—What?”

Brunnhilde flushed. Gods, she sounded desperate. “Sorry— I mean, congrats on saving the world— and such—“

“No, did you ask me about Loki? In a concerned manner?” Thor stared at her. 

Brunnhilde was at a loss for a moment, realizing that Thor still didn’t know about everything that had happened. Of course, she couldn’t help stop Thanos—Loki has entrusted her with the Asgardians, she couldn’t just let him down— so Thor (and the Avengers and others) had taken matters into their own hands and destroyed Thanos with only minor setbacks— supposedly half the universe had been killed in the process, explaining the sudden piles of dust all over the ship, and then the reforming of the refugees and few confused days later. 

But now that Thor was here and the world wasn’t in imminent danger…

“Please— is he okay? Is he— Thor, tell me he’s okay,” Brunnhilde begged. 

“Wait, slow down.” Thor shook his head, obviously confused. “I thought you two… hated each other?”

NOW

The door opened and Brunnhilde jumped, only to see Bruce peeking his head in. “Almost ready?”

“Um…” Brunnhilde glanced down at her midnight blue formal armor. “Yes?”

Bruce rolled his eyes fondly, seeing how nervous she was. “Look, you have nothing to worry about. At all. You’ll be great.” He grinned. “Together.”

“I’m not worried.” Brunnhilde jutted her chin out and Bruce raised an eyebrow. 

“Right…”

“Er— is it okay that I have you as my,” Brunnhilde giggled, “maid of honor?”

Bruce heaved a sigh. “I prefer man of honor? But it’s fine, Brunnhilde. You know how happy I am for this.”

“And is he?” Brunnhilde asked quietly, feeling a little childish. 

Bruce’s eyes softened. “Hey. He loves you. He doesn’t want anything else except for this. Trust me.”

2 MONTHS AGO

“Loki said he’d meet me here,” Thor said, a little anxiously. “Of course, I don’t know if dying was actually part of his plan…”

“Of course it was,” Brunnhilde blurted out. It had to be. Loki had to be fine. 

They were standing in a familiar field that brought memories flooding down on the Valkyrie. Bright skies. Soft breezes. An illusion, when she remembered. But this wasn’t. This was real. 

Thor rested a reassuring hand on Brunnhilde’s shoulder. 

“Loki?” Brunnhilde called out tentatively. 

“I thought you’d never arrive,” said an achingly familiar voice. 

NOW

Brunnhilde adjusted her silver cape one last time before the door opened. Everyone shifted in their seats to look at her. A wave of panic flooded her but she forced it down. So many of the faces were unfamiliar. Friends of the groom. Or— actually, friends of Thor, who didn’t have anything better to do this weekend. The thought made Brunnhilde smile in amusement, although she hoped she looked simply serene. 

A man with tired eyes and a trimmed beard sat in the front row with his wife and the other “original Avengers” — or what’s left of them. Other heroes sat lawn chairs, mostly here because of Thor’s enthusiasm for the day. Brunnhilde’s eyes quickly flitted to a man sitting with one metal arm slung around a dark skinned man who was muttering something under his breath, making the metal-armed man shoot him and glare and a badly-concealed grin. A lonely-looking girl with russet toned hair sat behind the one Thor introduced as “Midgard’s finest archer”. There were too many faces for Brunnhilde to take in, so instead she focused on the one that really mattered to her. 

Standing at the front, next to a teary Thor. Jet black hair trimmed and behind his shoulders. Green eyes still bright after all this time. Wearing a golden suit sign green highlights and tie. Grin barley repressed. A black rose in his hand. 

Loki. 

She loved him so damn much. 

She had barely realized she had reached the front, she had been so absorbed in bed surroundings (Alright— Loki.) It was only when she heard “So, I don’t really know what’s happening, except for that everyone is really pretty today and these two are in love.”

Brunnhilde bit back a smile a Loki’s exasperated face. It had been her idea to make Korg the one to officiate their marriage, a choice that she didn’t regret for an instant. 

“So I don’t want to get between two very scary people and their love, so please can someone give them their rings and let them kiss?” Korg said anxiously. 

They traded rings— both simple ones, Loki’s silver with an emerald snake and Brunnhilde’s black with a single blue gem. 

“Alright, now kiss and then cake!” Korg cheered. 

“Wait!” Thor cried. “The vows! Say the vows! That’s…” He sniffled, “the sweetest part.”

“Me first,” Loki said, almost shyly. “Brunnhilde, you’re an absolute asshole who I would never have chosen to go through hell and back with me. In fact, you were probably the last person I’d choose for that.” He softened. “Were. I… don’t have a lot to say— how can words even describe you— but I hope that this convinces you of how much a love you.” He hesitated, then smirked. “You’re still an asshole, though.”

Brunnhilde rolled her eyes as everyone laughed. “Had to ruin the moment.” She sobered. 

“I’m not going to say some shit like ‘Ever since you tried to kick my ass and failed horribly, I knew you were the one…’ because that just wouldn’t be true. Our romance wasn’t pretty or instant or easy…”. Brunnhilde closed her eyes for a moment and flashes or pain and darkness danced before her eyelids, “but hell if it wasn’t real. I can never express how much I love you. Never. But know that I do. So much.”

Loki had tears sparkling in his eyes while Thor bawled in the front row onto Bruce’s shoulder. Korg shifted. “And… now kiss?”

Brunnhilde didn’t need telling twice. With a smirk that frightened Loki, she grabbed his lapels and dragged him forward, smashing their lips together and relishing in the feeling of his hands cupping her face as the crowd cheered around them. 

As they broke apart, Korg piped up, “Now CAKE!”

And Loki held Brunnhilde’s hand, and they laughed, and they were finally happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY GOSH GUYS ITS OVER!!!! LOVE AND SUPPORT TO EVERYONE WHO READ THIS AND STUCK WITH IT EVEN THROUGH WAITS AND OFF SCHEDULE UPDATES!!! YOU ALL DESERVE THE WORLD AND I LOVE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU!


End file.
